Door Courtesy Light Advice

[joeinbcs]

My '67 Eldorado's courtesy lights have me stumped.
The driver side door switch actuates all the lights, including the light behind the red lens in the door card.  But, when the door is closed, this light remains on.
I've taken the door switch out, and its just three mini-spade connectors into the switch that turns all the lights when its grounded (door open).  They should all be either off or on.
I don't understand why the door card light can remain lit, draining my battery when the door is closed.
Is there something I'm missing?
Thanks, Joe

[936CD69]

Joe, remember there is power to all courtesy lights at all times, and as you said, the ground is provided by the jamb switch and/or the headlamp switch. If only one light remains lit, that lamp is getting a short to ground somewhere between the lamp and the switches. Could be as simple as a door trim screw driven into the ground for that lamp, or a wire pinched providing a ground. A good visual inspection should find it.

HTH, Craig

[Davidinhartford]

I was just going to write the same thing.   I also think you have a wire grounding on that line.    The red lamp wiring is separate from the courtesy wiring.  That's why there is three wires on the door jamb pin switch.   Which as you may have noticed is a very tight fit in the door jamb hole.  One of the wires on my 68s pin switch had come off.    I'd start looking there.   The area inside the kick panel is very hard to access the door wiring.   I suppose you may have to pull the door panel off too and check the wires.   A very common wiring problem on these 67-70 Eldos is the wiring in the drivers door "tube" that connects the door to the body.   The wires inside become VERY brittle from constant opening and closing.    My car had several wires that were cracked and a few actually broken.

PS,    Hey Joe how do like those Diamondback classic dual stripe whitewalls?   Do they ride smooth?   Satisfied with the look of the stripes?     If not, send me a private message as the club board rules prohibit negative comments on vendors.

~ Dave

[cadillacmike68]

If you only have 1 light staying on, then it's a grounding on that lamp's return (ground) wire. My problem is usually the opposite, I can't get the lights to go ON when i open the door! I ended up buying a half dozen door jamb switches before finally getting the problem solved.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I have a thread on my 1966, the drivers door activates only the front lights while the rear lights do not. The passenger door works fine, all lights are coming on.

Does the door jamb switch have two grounds to it??? One for front one for rear?

I was thinking the same thing. On the '62 and '59, I could almost control fronts, rears or both and map lamps independently- just by manually fiddling with the door switches. Apparently the interior lighting system was divided into separate circuits for which there are individual contact points within the door switch.

It seems one of those is not opening ground when the door is shut on the OP's Eldorado. 

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

So most likely I have a bad contact point in the drivers side switch but keep in mind I have two switches stacked on top of each other I have no idea what the lower switch does.

Top one works the lights

Anybody know?

Try pushing them individually by hand and see what happens?